How to Explore New York City by Bike: Best Routes and Renting Tips
Explore New York City by bike to see the city from a new perspective. Ride through scenic parks, waterfront paths, and bustling streets with dedicated lanes. Find the best routes, from Central Park loops to the Brooklyn Greenway, and get tips on renting bikes easily. Whether you’re a local or a visitor, cycling is a great way to navigate New York.
Why is Cycling so Popular in New York City?
Cycling is seen as an attractive method of transportation for multiple reasons. It’s friendly for the environment, it has negligible running costs, the ‘vehicle’ is easy to store, and its fuel intake is whatever you had for breakfast that morning. It’s no wonder why one of the most urbanized cities on the planet has so many cyclists; it’s just so easy.
How to Explore New York City by Bike?
It’s clear that taking your bike out is popular in New York City, but is it actually as simple as riding a bike? New York has lots of hustle and bustle. Vehicles and pedestrians flood the streets along with the hundreds of thousands of cyclists every day. Thankfully New York City has plenty of protected biking lanes, and they’re laying down dozens more miles each year.Â
These lanes are separated from the main artery of traffic, giving right of way to cyclists in these bike lanes. The New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) has layed hundreds of miles of these lanes for New York cyclists to traverse the city. Many bike lanes, even those not fully separated from traffic, take residents across the city through many points of interest.
How to Get a Bike in New York City
New York City has plenty of infrastructure dedicated to cycling. Rent-a-bike programs have become popular in many large cities. A rider pays to take a bike from a communal rack to ride for a set amount of time. After that limit, a variable rate is applied based on time or distance .
New York City has Citi Bike, a bike share program operated by Lyft. For $4.99 USD, you can rent a bike for thirty minutes, and $0.38 per minute thereafter. You can also purchase a monthly pass for $18.33 per month. Bike shares give the benefit of using a bike without dealing with the upkeep. Bikes are returned to their rack for the next person to pick them up, and you got to work without having to deal with traffic jams.
Bike ownership is the other route, and the city has rules to make life easier for bike owners as well. Bicycles are allowed on the NY subway at all hours, it just may be a tight fit during peak operations. Bikes are also allowed on commuter rail, such as the Staten Island Railway, however not during rush hours. In 2009, New York City passed a bill requiring commercial building and business owners to provide access for employees that ride a bike. For example, cyclists were given permission to use the freight elevator to bring their bike up to their office. Cycling has become a staple of New York’s transportation ecosystem, and services provided by the city have made biking easier and safer than ever.
Where to Next?
Biking is not only a method of functional transportation, but it’s also an activity with plenty of health benefits. It is exercise after all. New York City has a plethora of scenic bike paths that keep you moving while enjoying new angles of the city. The New York City DOT has a list of bike routes to explore New York City by bike through scenic paths and historic sections of the city.
The Prospect Park to Brighton Beach Bike Tour is roughly nine miles long, and starts in the historically significant and beautiful Prospect Park. Taking you south via the Ocean Parkway, which is host to the United States’ very first bike lane opening in the late 1800s, you will eventually be led to Brighton Beach. Brighton Beach is just to the east of the main area of Coney Island and provides lots of local entertainment and places to stop for a bite to eat. Brighton Beach is also well, a beach. Taking some time to cool off from this nine mile tour is the perfect end to one of the many curated tours you can experience in New York City.Â
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